Word of the Day

: October 11, 2007

langue

noun LAHNG (the vowel is pronounced in a nasal manner)

What It Means

: language viewed abstractly as a system of forms and conventions used for communication in a community; also : the knowledge that enables a person to speak and understand a language

langue in Context

Langue makes communication possible; without it we could not process and understand each other's utterances.

Did You Know?

In lectures delivered at the University of Geneva from 1907 to 1913, Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure set forth his groundbreaking distinction between "langue" -- the systematic, structured language existing at a given time within a given society -- and "parole," the individual use of that language by a person. In French, "langue" literally means "language." It was adopted into Middle English with that same general meaning but fell into disuse. "Parole" is also a French word; it means "speech" and is related to Late Latin "parabola," the base of our English word "parable."